Pod Rights

The Commission has a new President and her name is Professor Gillian Triggs. Gillian was, until recently, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney. She is a barrister and a Governor of the College of Law, holds a PhD in Law from the University of Melbourne and has combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice. In this installment of PodRights, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, introduces our new President, talks to her about her life so far and discusses her aspirations for the Commission over the next five years of her term.

The Commission’s Human Rights Awards have been held every year in relation to World Human Rights Day, which takes place every December 10. This year will be the 25th Awards and, over the years, they have attracted some very prestigious winners. But you don’t have to be a high profile person or organisation to win an award. Some of the greatest achievements in human rights are made quietly by people who are diligently working, for want of a better term, ‘under the radar’. In this instalment of PodRights, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, is joined by the Commission’s Executive Director, Padma Raman, who explains what the Awards are about, what the categories are, who can nominate for them and how.

One of the areas in which age discrimination has some of its greatest and most destructive impacts is the arena of employment. Attitudes to older people are such that employers often apply incorrect stereotypes to mature age workers when deciding not to select them for a job. Yet at the same time, there are in-built barriers in things like workers' compensation, income insurance and essential professional licences that actively discourage employers from hiring older people and effectively push those people out of the workforce. To discuss this issue, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, is joined by Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, who has just released Working Past Our 60s: Reforming Laws and Policies for the Older Worker paper.

Most of us go into public buildings regularly during our daily lives and probably don't even think about the ramp at the entrance, the raised metal circles on the footpaths, the width of the doorways and corridors, or the braille or large print on the lift buttons. But for people with disability, these things are extremely important, making the difference between whether they can use those buildings in a safe and dignified manner or not. In this instalment of Pod Rights, expert consultant, Michael Small, joins Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, to explain these fixtures, fittings and features that assist accessibility and the Standards and Guidelines that prescribe their implementation in public buildings.

When it comes to sporting prowess and achievement, Australia has an outstanding record. Yet for all the massive highs in our sporting life, there have been shameful lows where the issue of racism has raised its ugly head in various guises. Despite the efforts of many, this issue remains – and it is not restricted just to elite sport. Yet there are many people committed to building awareness and understanding of this issue and to creating solutions. Play by the Rules is an organisation committed to preventing and dealing with discrimination and harassment in sport and to developing welcoming and inclusive environments for participation in sport. In this instalment of Pod Rights, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes is joined by the National Manager of Play by the Rules, Paul Oliver, to discuss this issue.

There has been much talk about how human rights approaches can be built into our education system. What will this achieve and what will it mean to students? How best should it be done? What will it mean for people who grow up having been educated in human rights at school? In this instalment of Pod Rights, the Commission’s own expert on human rights education, Dr Annie Pettitt, joins Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, to explain and discuss this issue.

Most of the older generation, those of us over 60, missed out on formal education in digital technology. The world of the Internet and iPhones, which are something younger generations navigate without a second thought – for their news, entertainment shopping and banking – is, for many older people, creating a digital divide in our society – a new form of age discrimination. With many older people lacking the confidence to go online, the need has now arisen to provide them with accessible and appropriate information and education about computers, email and the rest of the digital world. In this installment of Pod Rights , Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, joins Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, to discuss this issue.

The Australian Human Rights Commission continued its campaign to allow same sex marriage by entering a float in the Mardi Gras parade on Saturday. In this installment of Pod Rights, Chief of Parade and National spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays, Shelley Argent, talks to Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, about how her son’s ‘coming out’ transformed her from being a stay at home mum from Queensland’s suburbs into a leading gay rights activist in Australia.

In the Australian parliament, every bill tabled must now be accompanied by a human rights compatibility statement and a specific parliamentary committee has been set up to scrutinise each bill from a human rights perspective. But what does this mean? Is it a federal charter of rights by stealth, as some people would claim? Or will nothing much change? In this instalment of Pod Rights, Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Philip Lynch, joins Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, to discuss the implications of this change.

In late 2010. the government established an expert panel to consider changing our constitution to recognise the first Australians. After 12 months of consultations around the country, the panel delivered its findings to Prime Minister Julia Gillard on 19 January. In this first instalment of Podrights for 2012, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes speaks to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, about Constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples and the Panel’s recommendations.

Last Friday, the Commission launched its Something in Common project, which aims to build respect, equality, freedom and belonging in Australia by looking at current human rights issues from shared experiences. Designed by Digital Eskimo, the project features two microsites – Somethingincommon.gov.au and tellmesomethingIdontknow.gov.au, which encourage people to ‘dig deeper’ on issues and provide information so that you can ‘take action’. In this instalment of Podrights, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, discusses these microsites with Digital Designs founder and Managing Director, David Gravina.

On the 25th of November, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner released his latest reports, he joins Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes to talk about the reports.

On Nov 3, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, released her Report on the Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force Academy on behalf of the Commission. The report was the culmination of Phase 1 of the two part independent review, the second phase of which is looking at the Australian Defence Force more broadly. In this instalment of Podrights, Ms Broderick explains the context, methodology and recommendations of the Review to Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes.

When it comes to human rights advocacy and activism around the world, Amnesty International has been both very successful and extremely well known since its inception 50 years ago. Though most of us are aware of Amnesty International, we may still wish to know a little more about them, their activities around the world and, from my perspective, their relationship with organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission. In this instalment of Podrights, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, is joined by Amnesty International’s National Director for Australia, Claire Mallinson, who talks about these issues, the evolution of Amnesty to the global organisation it is today, its focus in Australia and its plans for the future.

The Male Champions of Change, convened by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, is a collaborative initiative of corporate and institutional leaders committed to discussing and promoting strategies and actions that elevate women’s representation in leadership. Last week, the Male Champions of Change launched their best practice guide of strategies that will assist large organisations to increase the number of women in leadership roles, entitled Our experiences in elevating the representation of women in leadership: A letter from business leaders.In this installment of Podrights, Elizabeth Broderick explains the initiative, the publication and the group’s future with Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes.